Pain Causes Healing

Lately my life seems one tragedy after another.  My husband walking out on us, being unable to stay in my home, emergency surgery on vacation, and now most painful of all the death of a very dear friend.  It seems as if the waves of the storm are threatening to overtake me, the only anchor I have in it all is Jesus and his promise that: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,  you will not be burned;  the flames will not set you ablaze. " --Isaiah 43:2.  Somehow there is a peace amid it all, a supernatural peace provided only through my Abba Father.  Today I was reading a new bible study book I bought to help me through this and other issues that have held me back for so many years.  "A woman in my Bible study is a nurse.  When one of her two-year-old patients needed a spinal tap, the child screamed and struggled to get free.  My friend and other nurses had to strap and hold her down.  Only after the test could the doctor make the diagnosis and prescribe the treatment the child desperately needed.  The child had no idea hwy she had to go through this terrible pain and confinement; she did not understand she must go through it to bring healing to her body.  My friend observed, "That's how God is with us sometimes." When we go through excruciating times, our Father is there with us, holding and loving us." Princess Unaware by Brenda Garrison.  Right now my life is filled with excrutiating pain, but through the pain God is working to form His blessings and draw me closer to Him.  I may not understand the storm, but I understand the one who controls it.  He is the great I AM, there is no other God before Him, and when he acts who can reverse it?  His plans are exceedingly above my own and I must trust, because without that trust I will drown in the storm.